It’s estimated that a burglary on a home or business occurs every ten seconds. That’s a pretty worrying statistic seen as your whole livelihood may be contained in one building! Small businesses are notoriously popular targets for burglars, so it’s important to make sure you’re taking all the possible steps to prevent it. Here, we’ll go over some of the most effective of these. Nothing can guarantee that your business will never be targeted, but these tips can certainly reduce the risk!
We’ll start off with the simplest steps; visible deterrents. While burglars are malicious, lazy and cowardly, they’re not stupid, and won’t risk doing serious jail time if they think it’s not worth it. You can discourage burglars by making sure your business doesn’t look like an easy target from the start. If your premises has a lot of valuable items being moved around during a normal day of work, try and establish a routine for keeping those things hidden. If you’re holding a lot of cash, make sure that it’s regularly removed from the premises, or kept well out of sight. Post signs informing people that no cash is stored on the site overnight, even if that’s a lie. Make sure all your locks are of a good standard and visible from the outside. If you’re in an industrial area, you may want to get a contract with a local security firm. This will not only protect your business with regular patrols, but allow you to post a sign saying who you’re protected by.
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Next, set up some kind of system for keeping close tabs on all the keys for the building. It may be almost unthinkable to you, but a lot of burglaries on businesses are inside jobs. A disgruntled or simply uncaring employee might sell the keys to your business to a burglar, and give them all sorts of information as to where the most valuable loot is. Make sure all of your key-holding employees are required to turn theirs in at the end of the day, and introduce strict reprimands for carelessness with them.
Finally, invest in some technological deterrents. If you’re a small business owner, then your budget could be pretty stretched as it is, and the thought of buying more stuff might make you shrink into your seat. However, when you compare it against the cost of being burgled, these deterrents are a pretty sound investment! Look into some video surveillance systems, some security lights linked up to motion sensors, and a good old-fashioned burglar alarm. If you’re running a retail outlet that keeps cash on site, then it may also be a good idea to get some ink packs for this. Wherever possible, try to make these measures visible from the outside. The idea here is to prevent burglaries, not to tempt them in and trap them. As satisfying as the latter would be, it’s not all that cost-effective!
Take this advice, and you’ll be able to rest easy knowing your business is protected from burglaries.
This article was provided by ellie jo